


The shelter

by Zoya113



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-08 13:02:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21476428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoya113/pseuds/Zoya113
Summary: Paul takes Emma to a puppy rescue centre.The original plan was to go home empty handed, but that’s far too much to ask from Emma
Relationships: Emma Perkins/ Paul Matthews
Comments: 4
Kudos: 49





	The shelter

“We can’t go in if you’re not gonna be able to handle yourself.” Paul locked the passenger door from the drivers side. 

“I’m gonna be fine! I’m gonna be fine!” Emma pulled off her seatbelt, yanking at the door handle. 

“I need you to take a deep breath before you step out of the car, Emma.”

She took in a deep breath but didn’t exhale it. “Paul! There are so many dogs in there right now and I’ve gotta go in there and love them!” 

“Yeah, I don’t know how your heart is gonna handle it,” Paul was more excited about seeing Emma’s expression. “Remember, we aren’t adopting any dogs today, we’re just looking.”

“I get it! I get it! Let’s go!” She leant over the console, smacking Paul’s hand away from the lock button and swinging open her door. 

“Oh you didn’t listen to anything I just said, huh?” He smiled dotingly at her as he watched her clamber out to run ahead. 

She had been waiting for two weeks for today. The rescue shelter was only open so many days a week and she had to call work ahead to get time off, which she used to force Paul into getting a day off too considering it was too late to cancel.   
It was complicated enough, but she was acting like the stars had aligned. 

“We’re here to see some babies!” Emma had exclaimed directly into the receptionists face. 

“We’re here to meet the rescue dogs,” Paul corrected in a much calmer tone of voice. 

“Oh, just through the doors,” the receptionist gave a sweet smile to Emma before she could pelt down the hallway and burst through the doors. 

“Kids love it, it’s a great day out for them,” the receptionist smiled up at him too. 

“Kids love it alright,” he snickered. “Thank you!” He wasn’t in the same rush as Emma. He was preparing for a very big headache today. 

Emma was already stubborn on a daily basis but this was going to be a real argument today. 

“Oh shit,” he picked up his pace. She was probably already signing adoption papers and every second he left her on her own was another dog he’d have to pry from her. 

“Paul!” She heard him squealing his name. 

He whipped around in horror to see the cluster of dogs she had already claimed. 

She was on her knees fighting back a dog the same size as her that had both its paws on her shoulders to lick her face. 

She was laughing louder than usual, her arms slipped around the dog in a big hug. “He’s so soft, Paul! Oh my god, oh my god I can’t even believe this is real!” She tried to kiss the dog’s forehead but he reared up to lick her chin. 

“Oh Emma, you wore black pants today?” He sighed, so glad he wasn’t doing laundry this week. “What’s his name?”

“Halo!” She wrapped her arms tighter around the dog, pushing him playfully onto his side to pat his belly. “Look! He’s so sweet! He’s smiling, look! We’re already best friends!” 

“We’re just looking today, remember?” 

She didn’t answer him, her attention taken away as another dog bolted over to her from his pen. 

She gave a delighted scream. It was a smaller dog she could scoop up in her arms and she nuzzled him up to her head. “Hi! Hello little baby! What’s your name?” 

“Em, don’t get too attached.” 

“His name is Jasper, Paul!” Emma snapped back. “And he’s a baby!” 

The bigger dog barked, shoving his muzzle back into Emma’s face. 

Paul shuffled back into the corner when some of the roaming dogs came to sniff his shoes. 

All the animals running around and the noise and squealing from both the dogs and Emma was starting to get on his nerves, and he knew he was getting uncomfortable, but Emma’s smile was so worth it. 

“Paul, I’m gonna cry!”

“I think you already are, Emma.” He leaned over to scratch the head of a small Chihuahua that had scampered up to him. “I never had any dogs growing up. I had two fish. And they were great. Small, cheap, cool looking and not loud!” 

When he looked back up there were even more dogs circling her. They all wanted her attention and were crawling over each other and jumping up on her lap.  
“We have to get them all, babe!”

“Oh Emma, please don’t give me those eyes!” He rolled his head away so he wouldn’t have to look at her pleading expression. “You’ve got a whole army there, the house is not big enough for a dozen dogs!“

“But it could be!” She whined, tossing her head back. “Please!”

“You promised me we weren’t adopting any dogs today! You have to stick by that,  
Em. You promised.”

“But look! They wanna come home, how can we leave them here!?” She was slowly but noticeably accumulating more dogs to her herd, all of which were pawing at her and trying to lick her face, pushing her to the ground. 

“I know, and they can wait another couple weeks,” he squatted down to try and remain at eye level with her.   
The chihuahua who was yet to leave him alone made a small yet very dedicated attempt to jump onto his lap. 

“But what if they’re gone by then!?”

“Then good for them! We can only adopt one dog, Em. And you’re fighting a losing war here.” He pointed at the pile of dogs swarming her. “Maybe you should volunteer here.”

“I don’t have enough time to- oofh!” Halo, the leader of the pack had successfully weighed her down, pushing her to the ground to smother her. 

He couldn’t see her beneath the mass at this point, but he could hear her laughter, it was frequently cut off without notice to avoid one of her many dogs shoving its nose into her mouth. 

He sat down, legs crossed in defeat. He was going to be here all afternoon.   
“Hi, buddy,” he let the Chihuahua to hop into his lap this time. 

It scurried about, not quite able to sit still. He allowed it to lick at his hands so it would stop licking jeans. 

He stroked the tiny dog’s back until both it and him had calmed down. “Well we’re having our own little party, aren’t we?” He scratched it behind its ears. 

“Paul, I love them so much!” Emma called from somewhere under the furry pile of dogs. “But I mean, ugh,” she paused as she pushed herself up from the ground, leaning on her elbows. “They have a talent for stepping on you were it hurts!” There was even a strain to her voice. 

“Well that’s why I don’t want a big dog, Em. I think we should just start small.” 

“I’m choosing hopefully to imply your sentence as meaning we will get more dogs after our first!” 

The dogs, jealous of any attention she gave to Paul swarmed her again and pushed her back to the floor. 

Paul was glad, it meant he didn’t have to elaborate on that idea. 

There was a Doberman in the mix who was licking Emma’s forehead and pawing at her shoulder. He looked up at Paul for a moment before barking.

Paul clapped a hand to his chest, squirming back against the wall. 

The dog in his lap stood up to give a small, high pitched bark back at the taller dog. 

The Doberman blinked once before sticking its head back down.

Paul patted the smaller dog as a reward, letting out a sigh of relief. “Emma, your dog is scary!”

Emma didn’t hear him.

“You’re not a partier, are you, little fella?” He continued to pat him. “Don’t wanna go suffocate my girlfriend too?” 

The dog did a small circle in his lap, it’s little paws scrabbling on his legs. 

“Yeah. I’m not jealous either.” 

“Babe!” Emma peered out of the dog pile for a second. “How am I supposed to choose just one?” 

“You don’t have to choose right now. We can’t adopt them for almost another month. You’ve got thinking time!”

“Thinking time is excruciating! Why can’t we adopt one or two today?” She was being stubborn on purpose now. 

“Because the house isn’t prepared for a puppy. Okay, quick fire. Who’re your top three?” 

“Umm, uh, that’s a big question!”

“Quick fire, Emma!” 

“Ah!” She shook her head, scanning her throng of puppies for any stand out contenders. 

“Um, Halo-“

“No big dogs.”

“Well you said quick fire ughfk?!” She sat up, pushing dogs off her lap so she could make her frantic decisions easier.   
“Uh, this guy, this guy and him!” She pointed out three dogs with her hands but her eyes were looking at different dogs altogether.   
“But also her, and this baby too and-“

“Only three!”

“Well I have a backup list, Paul,” her tone turned snarky. “Just in case any of them get adopted before we come back!” She flopped her head down into Halo’s back.  
It was entirely for dramatic effect and she raised her head a second later to spit fur from her mouth. 

“Emma, as great as it’d be for every single dog here to get adopted, that’s not gonna happen within a few weeks. Just, keep your eye on one or two.” He let the dog in his lap hop onto his knee and try and climb up his sweater. “You know I’m not really a dog person,” he tried to explain but Emma chose not to listen to him. 

“Paul, they’re all so cute. They’re little babies, aren’t you? Aren’t you a little baby baby? A little sweetheart?” Her voice turned high and thin as she cooed to the dogs. 

“We can’t have a big dog, we can’t have a dog that sheds, we can’t get a dog that needs too much exercise because we’re always at work. Oh! And we can’t have any that bark too loudly because the neighbours will give us shit again - Emma, are you sure you don’t want a fish?” 

“Boo. Rules. I hate ‘em!” She wrapped her arms around the big, white dog again. “He’s like a teddy bear Paul!”

“But he’s everything I just said no to. I’m sorry, Em. You should look at a small dog, like maybe...” he looked down at the dog in his lap thoughtfully. “You know, just like this guy!” He lifted him up for Emma to see. 

Emma raised her head over her dog gang to get a look, but the second she stopped patting Halo he barked in her ear, catching her by surprise. 

“Oh, a little baby! Bring him here!” She our stretched her hands towards the dog. 

He rolled his eyes once Emma was taken by the dogs again. He did admit to himself he was a bit envious of all the attention Emma was both giving and receiving. 

He tried to hand the tiny dog over but it held onto Paul as he brought it close to the dog posse. 

Emma’s smile broke when she realised she hadn’t won over every dog in the room. “Paul!” She tried again, holding out her arms. 

“Sorry Em, I guess they’re my friend,” he chuckled, but he couldn’t play with Emma’s heart like that. “It’s not you. I think they don’t like the crowd.” He brought the dog back to his chest where it gave him a small lick. 

“I want them to be my friend too!” She tried to stand up but every dog had at least one paw on her leg or her stomach and she was very stuck. “They’ve claimed me, Paul. We gotta adopt them all!” 

“Okay. Here we go.” He held the dog to his side and reached out with his right hand to help haul Emma out of the writhing haul of dogs. 

She pouted, giving a poor attempt at brushing all the dog fur off her clothes. It was no use.

“Here, you wanna hold them?” He carefully presented the chihuahua to Emma and her jaw dropped. 

“Aww! Baby! Hello! Hewwo little fwiend!” She held her face up to his.

“Don’t speak to them like that. You’ll patronise them.” He pulled him back, holding them to his face. 

“Paul!” She chuckled. “Since when have you cared how I talk to them?” She gave the dog another kiss. 

Her following had come to circle around her legs, brushing up against Paul’s jeans.   
He let out a sigh, he wasn’t escaping this fur-free anymore. “Hey,” he tried to shoo them away but they weren’t here for him - they wanted Emma. 

“Oh! You like them don’t you!” Emma looked up at Paul, her eyes bright. “You like him! And he’s exactly what you described! Small, quiet, doesn’t shed! Paul, we have to get him!” She pleaded, squeezing his free hand. “Today! You love them! Admit it!” 

“I’ll admit I love you,” he elbowed her. 

She shook her head. “I’m not flirting with you in the dog shelter. I’ve got better things to do.” She took the chihuahua from his hands to hold by her heart. 

“That’s fair.” He tapped the dog’s nose. It’s tail was wagging so fast he couldn’t actually see it anymore. “They’re a good little baby, right?” 

“We have to get him today, please?” 

“I’ll think about it. A solid maybe.” He saw Emma’s smile, and he saw the dog wag its tail. “Give me a little longer to think about it.” 

“Really! Oh my god! Thank you babe!”   
She stood on the tips of her toes to try and kiss him but he pushed her away. 

“No way. That’s not happening. You’re covered in dog spit and dog fur. Maybe later.” 

Emma clicked her tongue before dropping back down to her heels with a nod, but she was still smiling. “That’s fair.”


End file.
